Overseas 35s and under can get IRS Youth Tax
Portuguese residing abroad and returning to Portugal or foreigners who settle in the country, provided that they have never filed any income tax return here, will be able to benefit from the Young IRS tax benefit for 10 years regardless of whether they have already started their professional life in another country, an official source from the Ministry of Finance.
“What matters is the number of years earning income from work in Portugal, with a limit of 10 years and 35 years of age,” explained the office of Joaquim Miranda Sarmento in reply to a question from newspaper Negócios on the eligibility of citizens from another country, when they would get access to the tax benefit and, also, whether they qualified if they started their professional life in another country.
In practice, these young people end up winning out over those who are already here and have already filed income statements in previous years, explains Ricardo Reis, a tax specialist at the consultancy Deloitte.
“It is a pragmatic solution in which the State, unable to supervise it, has admitted that it amounts to positive discrimination,” he adds.
In other words, “a solution that is only justified by a lack of information and the impossibility of controlling information”, but which, at the same time, also has the advantage “of attracting people who have been away for a few years and, wanting to return, can do so by taking advantage of the entire regime and not just partially”, explains the tax consultant.